Garrett Richards stuck out nine to match his career best over eight excellent innings and helped the Los Angeles Angels snap a season-worst four-game skid with a 4-0 win over Houston Astros on Wednesday night.

Dexter Fowler had two hits for the Astros, but no one else could get anything going against Richards. Heralded prospect Jon Singleton went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his second major league game after homering in his debut on Tuesday night.

Fowler's ground-rule double led things off for the Astros. But Richards retired the next eight batters, including striking out the side in the second inning on nine pitches.

Fowler singled with two outs in the third but Jose Altuve grounded into a force out to end the inning.

Richard located his pitches well all night, but his control was impeccable early in the game when 32 of his first 35 pitches were strikes.

Freese doubled with one out in the fifth and C.J. Cron put the Angels on top 1-0 with his RBI single with two outs.

Aybar hit a one-out double in the sixth before Albert Pujols drew a walk. Howie Kendrick and Freese hit back to back singles with two outs to stretch the lead to 3-0.

The Angels didn't get a hit until Albert Pujols singled with two outs in the fourth inning, but Cosart struck out Josh Hamilton for the third out.

Hamilton played center field on Wednesday night in his second game back from the disabled list with star Mike Trout out again with back problems.

Collin Cowgill entered the game as a pinch-runner eighth and took over in center field and Hamilton moved to left field. He preserved the shutout by sprinting to make a catch on the track just before Tal's Hill in center field on a fly ball hit by George Springer for the last out in the eighth inning.

Trout had an MRI on Wednesday and said it didn't reveal any damage. He has some inflammation in the middle of his back on the left side and hopes to return to the lineup on Thursday.

Trout missed two games with stiffness in his upper back before starting Tuesday night in Houston. He left that game in the second inning because of his back problem.

He said that he feels a lot better on Wednesday than he did when he left the game on Tuesday night.

“If I don't feel it at all, I'm going to play,” he said. “If I feel it a little bit, I should just be smart about it.” NOTES: The series wraps up on Thursday when Los Angeles left-hander Tyler Skaggs opposes Brad Peacock. … Houston SS Jonathan Villar was out of the lineup on Wednesday after being hit on the right elbow by a pitch the night before. X-rays were negative and he is day to day.

The recent story of Chicago's Jackie Robinson West Little League team, their U.S. title taken away because some of their players lived outside the district they represented, struck a nerve with Phil Hart.

The 24 trades made Monday that moved 43 players in the hours before the NHL trading deadline were more strategic than splashy, nothing that justified the hype that has grown around this annual day of reckoning and nothing that will immediately transform a franchise.